MOSCOW, December 19 (RIA Novosti) - A regular missile regiment, armed with the Topol-M (SS-27 Stalin) ICBMs, will go on combat duty in the Ivanovo Region on December 24, the Russian Strategic Missile Forces said Friday.

"A regular missile regiment, armed with the latest Topol-M mobile missile systems, having no analogs in the world, will enter combat duty with the Teikovo missile formation," a SMF press release said.

The first two Topol-M mobile missile battalions, equipped with six mobile launch systems, have already been put on combat duty with the 54th Strategic Missile Division near the town of Teikovo, about 150 miles (240 km) northeast of Moscow.

At present, Russia deploys Topol-M ballistic missiles as the mainstay of its land-based component of the nuclear triad. As of 2008, Russia's SMF operated 48 silo-based and six mobile Topol-M missile systems.

The missile, with a range of about 7,000 miles (11,000 km), is said to be immune to any current and future U.S. missile defenses. It is capable of making evasive maneuvers to avoid a kill using terminal phase interceptors, and carries targeting countermeasures and decoys.

It is also shielded against radiation, electromagnetic pulse, nuclear blasts, and is designed to survive a hit from any known form of laser technology.